"Annabelle? Annabelle, will you come over here for a second?!" Narcissa called, despite the bustle and the craziness at Platform 9 ¾. Draco stood near his mother, with no emotion attached to his face. Like always, Annabelle was off somewhere, doing something stupid, but probably in awe.

"Where is she?!" Narcissa snapped, staring avidly at her watch, which now displayed the time, 10:58.

Draco shrugged, and continued staring at the Hogwarts train, full of steam. He'd just about give anything not to go to school this year, but like most, he had no choice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some blond hair whip up, and only a second later, Annabelle was standing right by him.

"Hi mom!" she said excitedly, staring at all the chaos around the station.

"Finally! The train leaves in two minutes!" her mom said angrily, but sighing in relief. "I was scared you wouldn't say goodbye to your mommy."

Annabelle laughed, her voice all sing-song. "You know I wouldn't do that to you mom," she said, kissing Narcissa on the cheek.

Draco smirked, and was thrown a glare by his mom.

"You two better look after yourselves, and obviously one another. It's going to be a crazy year," she eyed Draco at this, "and you will want to make it through with flying colours."

Draco nodded his head curtly, a small smile forming on his lips. "Goodbye mom."

His mom watched him for a second longer before recovering from her gaze, and smiling sadly. "I'll miss you both, so much!"

"We will too mom," Annabelle said, squeezing her mom so tightly Draco was scared Narcissa would suffer from lack of oxygen, "I promise I'll send you and dad – "

She was cut off by the loud sound of the horn. The train was slowly getting into gear.

"Well, we've got to run. See you at Christmas, mom!" Draco said quickly, grabbing his and Annabelle's bags. "Come on Belle," he muttered.

Annabelle gave one last kiss to Narcissa, before following Draco onto the train. After the doors closed, she turned around to have one final look at her mom. Narcissa was waving, the obvious sadness shown in her eyes. Annabelle lifted her hand in goodbye, before her mom disappeared with all the other families faces.

"Dracey!" someone screamed before Annabelle or Draco could step inside the corridor. A flushed and somewhat pretty girl was waving feverishly at Draco, a grin so wide it pretty much covered her entire face. The only thing visible was her upper torso, seeing as she was leaning out of a compartment. Draco gestured in that direction to Annabelle, who followed him without complaint. Seeing as she was Draco's age and everything, she was hoping she'd be able to hang out with him and his friends. They were twins, but looked nothing alike. They had almost the same hair color, except Draco's was much more platinum while Annabelle's stayed more golden. Then for the eyes, which were a vibrant, icy blue, were pretty much all they had in common. The rest was … completely different.

Annabelle knew Draco probably hadn't told anyone he had a twin; not that she cared. She never went to Hogwarts before, due to a sickness and the fact that she could barely do magic; but she was still happy she was here, even in no one knew that Draco was her brother.

"Hey Pansy, how was your summer?" Draco asked politely, as the girl – Pansy – held open the door, and helped place the baggage's on the shelves up top.

"Just the same, quite boring actually," she said, reaching for Annabelle's suitcase. Annabelle couldn't help but notice the jealousy on Pansy's face when she quickly looked at her as she heaved up the suitcase. Annabelle was going to laugh and point out that Draco was her brother, but kept silent. He could do that, if he wanted to.

Annabelle made a quick observation of the people in the compartment. There were two really, well, oversized boys, along with another boy who would look pretty handsome if he didn't look like such a snob.

Draco sat himself beside the snob, which left only an empty seat beside the two fat boys, or the snob himself. Annabelle wasn't sure which one to pick – they were equally difficult to choose from. But Draco helped her out, by scooting over to the left, leaving a space beside him, big enough to fit Annabelle.

Gratefully, she placed herself beside him, and an annoyed Pansy sat across from her.

"So," Pansy started, watching Annabelle from the corner of her eye, but facing her entire body to Draco. "Who's this?"

"Annabelle," Draco said coolly, without a second glance. Instead of looking at his sister, he turned his gaze to the window.

Annabelle smiled warmly at Pansy. "Just call me Anna," she said, sticking out her hand. Pansy hesitated, before gripping it lightly then quickly pulling away. "Er, call me Pansy."

Annabelle nodded, and looked over at the fat boys and the snob, with her head tilted to the side. She wasn't sure how to introduce herself.

"This is Crabbe," Pansy said quickly, gesturing at the fat boy beside her. "Goyle and Blaise." She pointed to the other two without taking her gaze off Annabelle.

"Er – hi," Annabelle said awkwardly, looking around at Draco, who's eyes were still on the window. The others all grunted, and went back into conversation, as if there was no disruption at all. But Pansy, unfortunately, kept staring.

After a while, as Annabelle was gathering up the courage to snap at Pansy, Pansy broke the silence between them. "You're new, aren't you?"

"Um… yes, I am actually."

"Why?" Pansy asked rudely. Annabelle's face reddened because she didn't know what to reply to this, or how.

"Because she's my sister," Draco said, finally taking his gaze of the window, and coming to his sister's aid.

At this, everyone's head in the compartment snapped up, except for Annabelle's, whose eyes remained on the ground.

"Annabelle Malfoy," he said quietly, so his voice couldn't be carried out to the corridors. He slowly began telling them all about Annabelle, about why she wasn't at school before, and only finally entering into her sixth year.

Throughout the whole explanation, Annabelle's eyes remained glued on the floor, nervous about the reactions she will be getting.

After reaching the part when Draco was telling his friends why he never told them about her, Annabelle excused herself to go the washroom, and was glad when she closed the compartment door behind her.

She thought it'd be only logic if she'd go up the train, because usually bathrooms were at the end of a train.

To her luck, she found the washrooms and opened the door, when a loud thud came from the other side, and someone said, "Ow."

She quickly extracted and closed the door again, not daring to open it in case she hits the same person. She knew her face was etched with surprised.

"I'm so sorry!" she said quickly, loud enough for the other person at the other end to hear.

"It's all right." Immediately, Annabelle recognized the voice as a guy's, and with wide eyes looked up at the sign on the door. Of course, the sign said "Males."

Damnit.

She was quickly going to slip in the women's door, and save herself from a humiliating accident, when the door to the males washroom opened and out came a boy.

A boy with jet black hair.

A boy with emerald green eyes, covered by glasses.

A boy with a visible scar on his forehead.

Harry Potter.

For a second, he looked confused and his brow furrowed, but then his face eased.

"Er – "

Annabelle felt her face flushing. "I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to – "

"Don't worry about it," he cut her off, the corners of his mouth starting to raise up. "I guess you got mixed up with the signs," he said, gesturing to the one above his head.

Annabelle nodded nervously. "I guess I did. Listen, I really didn't mean to – "

But Harry just raised his arm to stop her, and finally smiled. "It's okay."

Annabelle lifted her head and smiled weakly, already angry with herself because she managed to embarrass herself, not even reaching the school yet.

"Well, I think I'm going to go, you know…" she trailed off, her finger pointing towards the girls door.

"Right," Harry grinned. "I'll see you around."

Her face blushing deep red, Annabelle pulled herself into the washroom and closed the door, sighing. What a wonderful start this was to a new school year.

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